TikTok Shop was going to be the next big thing. A potential ban could change that

By Erika Tulfo, CNN

(CNN) — Aakaanksh Autade was iffy on TikTok Shop, TikTok’s in-app shopping feature, when it launched last year. Then the content creator grossed over $100,000 in sales when he hosted a live event on Black Friday and went from skeptic to believer.

Autade is known for sharing tech-related tips and tricks on his TikTok channel, “kaansanity.” He took to TikTok Live for the first time on Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend to promote gadgets like headphones and game consoles. “It was my first time going live, and to make $102,000 in 10 hours was just insane. I didn’t expect it at all,” he said.

TikTok Shop allows users to buy and sell products without leaving the app. The sales platform combines entertainment and retail, making it particularly popular among Gen Z buyers, and it continues to grow. It has over 500,000 sellers in the US, including brands like L’Oréal, PacSun and Scrub Daddy.

TikTok Shop raked in $100 million in single-day sales this Black Friday — that’s triple the number from 2023, according to the company. Over Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend alone, the shop saw a 165% increase in shoppers year-over-year, according to a statement by the company this month.

However, a US appeals court this month upheld a law that requires TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app by January 19 or face a US ban.

That ban could grind the sales platform’s progress to a halt — but creators who spoke to CNN say that they’re sticking with TikTok Shop anyway because they don’t think a ban will actually happen.

“I don’t think TikTok is going anywhere. I think they’re going to figure it out, and there’s so many people invested in TikTok,” Autade said. “It’s hard to ignore how much it means to its users.”

What makes TikTok Shop tick?

TikTok Shop provides a pipeline from discovery to purchase by letting users shop products featured in live videos, pinned on brand and influencer profiles, or tagged in content shown on their algorithm-driven For You page.

Even before the launch of its shopping feature, TikTok had already established a reputation as a place for users to find items to add to their wishlists. A study conducted in 2022 by marketing consulting firm Material Plus found that 61% of users purchased an item after seeing content about it on TikTok, helped by hashtags like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt, which has over 12 million posts.

Keenya Kelly, a content strategist and TikTok creator, said combining passive entertainment with a shopping function can tempt users to open their wallets.

“You’ve got all these people who are spending so much time just being (on TikTok) consuming and creating content,” she said. “When you mix in commerce with our favorite source of entertainment, then we’re going to spend all our money there.”

TikTok Shop’s reliance on user-generated content allows consumers to hear from voices they trust.

“If you see your favorite creator promoting a product on a live stream or a video, you’re more likely to buy it in that moment,” said Carrie Berk, a lifestyle content creator. The thinking among viewers, she said, is that “if a makeup influencer is promoting a product on TikTok Shop, if she says it’s good, then it must be good.”

TikTok users like Autade also say that the app’s focus on short-form videos gives it an edge over other social media platforms.

“When I click on a product and I can see hundreds or even thousands of people posting a video about that product authentically, that really helps,” he said. “On a different platform, I might just see some words, some reviews, some stars here and there,” but seeing the product in action is different.

Another component of TikTok Shop’s growth is its popularity with younger users. Some 62% of Gen Z consumers say that TikTok is their platform of choice when they need to look something up, beating out search engines like Google, according to a report by marketing technology company SOCi published this year.

“Gen Z as a whole has really chosen TikTok as their premier destination for content,” said Jen Jones, chief marketing officer of e-commerce platform Commercetools. “TikTok shop just seemed like a natural place for those dollars to be spent.”

What would a TikTok ban mean for other social media retail platforms?

Social media shopping is not a new phenomenon.

Ninety-two percent of retailers plan to invest more in social commerce this holiday season, according to a study by Commercetools published in October. The same study showed that Facebook Marketplace was the social commerce platform of choice for businesses, followed by YouTube, Instagram, TikTok Shop and X.

In particular, Jones sees an opportunity for YouTube to fill in the space TikTok could leave behind if a ban comes into force.

She says that YouTube could potentially meet demand for the style of short-form videos popularized by TikTok through YouTube Shorts while capitalizing on its longer-form content.

In the past year alone, people watched over 30 billion hours of shopping-related content on YouTube, the company previously told CNN in an email. In 2023, it launched YouTube Shopping, allowing content creators to tag products from brands featured in their videos and earn commissions.

Experts say that if the TikTok ban happens, it will serve as a lesson for brands to not put all their eggs into one marketing basket.

“It’s just really important for companies to have a very diversified strategy when it comes to social shopping,” said Jones. “We know that social shopping is here to stay. You can’t get locked into just one platform.”

Kelly says the same advice applies to individual content creators who make money off their posts and videos, and recommends cultivating a following through more direct forms of outreach like email lists.

“We use social media to reach a group of people,” she said. “You need to pull those people off social media onto email so that you have control over your business.”

Still, Kelly says she sees no reason for content creators to be concerned over the court ruling that moves TikTok one step closer to a ban.

“I don’t think it’s going to get banned” because of the millions of small US businesses who rely on the app, she said. “I do think that they’re going to force TikTok to do some things that they don’t want to do, but I don’t think it’s going to be completely banned.”

Berk commands an audience of almost 4 million followers on TikTok and describes the social media platform as a big part of her livelihood, but she says she’s not worried by the prospect of a total ban next month.

“There has been much discussion about TikTok being banned since 2020 and nothing has happened yet, so I’m skeptical,” she said.

Autade still has accounts on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, but he told CNN that TikTok was his primary marketing avenue and the platform that has brought him the most success.

Even as the threat of a ban looms nearer, he says it’s still business as usual and plans to continue with a live event in January similar to the one he hosted on Black Friday.

“I’m still all-in on TikTok. I’m still living my day-to-day life, running my businesses, and everything’s pretty much the same until I hear otherwise,” Autade said.

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